Mindful Torah...and more

Today’s Torah portion is Noah (Genesis/Bereshit 6:9 - 11:32). Though it begins with the story of Noah, the ark, and the flood, it also contains within it the story of the Tower of Babel.  In the middle of the Noah narrative, after the flood has subsided and Noah, his family, and the animals begin to repopulate the earth, one of the first things Noah does is to plant a vineyard. He then makes wine (we won’t discuss the time lapse) and passes out drunk. While lying naked in his tent when one of his sons, Ham, enters the tent and sees him. He runs out to tell his brothers Shem and Yaphet what he has seen. They then go into the tent and cover up their father.  When Noah awakens and hears what Ham has done, he curses him saying, “ Cursed be Canaan, son of Ham, a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.  Blessed be God, the God of Shem and may God extend Yaphet to live in Shem’s tents.  And to them both, Canaan shall be a slave.” This short passage was one of the roots...

I wrote this piece recently in response to what is happening in our country. It has been published online in The Forward, one of the oldest Jewish national publications. However, I needed to edit in on order to fit their guidelines. Below is the unedited version. Though this is not about mindfulness per se , it is regarding an issue of which many reading this blog need to be mindful. As you may have noticed, the heading on the blog page now reads "Mindful Torah...and more."  That is because I want to use this blog as a way to talk not just about my interpretation of Torah and Jewish texts, but about life in general.   All questions and comments are welcome. Shalom/Salaam/Peace, SPN --------------------------------- Proudly Jewish. Proudly Gay. Reluctantly White. For as long as I can remember, being Jewish has been my primary identity. Whether I was at home, in synagogue, or in settings where most of the people around me were Christian, this was always true. I was, am, and...

This week's parashah /portion is Balak ( Bamidbar /Numbers 22:2-25:9).  In this narrative, Balak, king of Midian, hires the magician Bilaam to curse the Israelites. However, Bilaam tells Balak that he may only utter words provided to him by God.  Three times Bilaam tries to curse the Israelites.  No matter where he stands or what he is ordered to do, he may only utter the words which are placed in his mouth by God.  His final  utterance curse is instead a blessing: “How good are your tents Jacob; your dwellings Oh Israel.” These words are the ones with which the traditional morning service begins every day.      To bless or to curse? That was the question. Balak desperately wanted the Israelites to be cursed. Still, all Bilaam could do was bless the beauty of the Israelite camp. Yet, I wonder  what the camp was really like. Was it all beauty, peace and harmony, as the blessing suggests? Or perhaps, based on the Israelites' history o...

This is not exactly about mindfulness, but it is about everything that is on all of our minds this week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This past week has been a frightening and tragic one for our country. In response to the senseless killing of George Floyd, another African American man who died at the hands of police, protests and riots have erupted throughout our country. This is on top of the devastating effects of Covid-19, which has disproportionately impacted communities of color. Racism is ingrained in the fabric of our country. Peaceful protests have been routinely ignored. And so, as in the past, people have taken to the streets. It is perhaps the only way to be heard by those in power. As the Director of Jewish Student Life at Lehigh, I feel it incumbent upon me to respond to this current crisis in our nation. The Jewish people have been oppressed throughout our history and we are still hated by many. Just see the statistics of the...

I just posted an original poem which drew on the traditional rabbinic midrash/commentary that the Israelites accepted the Torah at Mount Sinai sight unseen, at least in part, because God had lifted the mountain over their heads. The people were told that they had the freedom to accept or reject the Torah. However, if they were to reject the Torah then this place would be their grave.  This midrash makes it clear that, in the ancient rabbinic mind, God knew that the people needed some persuasion, perhaps because they were reluctant to give up any of their freedoms after having been slaves for so long. But with liberty comes rules and responsibility. And responsibility for the greater good of the nation and the world often means relinquishing some of your personal freedoms. Or at least our privileges. I wrote about this in last week’s Torah commentary in response to those who were protesting about giving up some of their privileges, such as being able to go wherever they want and not...